August 08, 2008

Dinner with Mom: EJ's Simple Ribs and Rib Sauce

Fearing that smallplates would mean guests that might go home hungry, we wanted to ensure that our Dinner with Mom featured one slightly more substantial item to round out the meal.

These ribs from Everyday Food seemed just the ticket!

The recipe comes from Everyday Food's new "Everyday with Emeril" column written by you know who. For his inaugural column, the Big E focuses on "great grilling." In addition to ribs & sauce, he also offers up recipes for fish provencal and Caribbean chicken, along with green bean and macaroni salads.

Emeril's rib recipe is a basic but impressive approach. The recipes for both the rib rub and sauce call for a lot of ingredients (11 ingredients for the ribs; 12 for the sauce), but they're all items most home cooks will already have on-hand. (There may be a few exceptions. Does the home cook that subscribes to Everyday Food keep sweet paprika and celery seed on hand? Maybe...)

The challenge with this rib recipe, as with similar recipes, is time. Two hours are recommended for marinating, with another 1 1/2 hours for roasting, plus extra time for finishing on the grill. This ruled out these ribs as a weeknight dish for us, but it easy enough to accomplish on a Sunday spent preparing for a dinner with friends.

You can't argue with the results. The ribs were flavorful and tender and the sweet & smoky sauce was the perfect compliment to the rub. Our guests loved them!

Based on our first experience, we're looking forward to more of "Everyday with Emeril" and look forward to trying that Caribbean chicken.

1. In a small bowl, combine mustard powder, paprika, celery salt, onion powder, red-pepper flakes, garlic powder, celery seed, and 1 teaspoon salt. Rub slabs on both sides with the spice mixture, and refrigerate, loosely covered, for 2 hours.2. Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Stack slabs on a double layer of aluminum foil; tightly wrap. Place on a rack on a baking sheet. Cook until meat pulls away from the bone and is easily pierced with the tip of a sharp knife, 1 to 1 1/2 hours.3. Heat grill to medium-high; lightly oil grates. Carefully remove ribs from foil, pouring off any liquid. Brush generously on both sides with rib sauce; grill ribs until sauce begins to bubble and brown around the edges, 4 to 5 minutes per side. Serve ribs with any leftover sauce, if desired.

1. In a medium saucepan, heat oil over medium. Add onion and garlic; season with salt and pepper. Cook until onion is translucent, 3 to 5 minutes. Add remaining ingredients; bring to a simmer. Cook, stirring occasionally, until sauce has thickened, about 30 minutes.